2018 WCL All Star Game

Port Angeles Lefties to Host 2018 WCL All-Star Game

The Port Angeles Lefties will host All-Star action next year, as the club’s Civic Field will be put to use for the 2018 West Coast League All-Star Game.

The 2017 campaign was the Lefties’ inaugural summer collegiate league season at Civic Field, and the club has big plans in store for next year. As revealed on Saturday night, the team is preparing to host the 2018 All-Star Game.

Lefties co-owner Matt Acker has provided a few details. The Lefties are expecting to host two days worth of events for their All-Star showcase, starting with a home run derby and a concert on July 16. That will be followed by the All-Star Game on July 17. More from the Peninsula Daily News:

“This is a significant event because it draws a spotlight to that area for baseball fans, scouts and West Coast League teams and players,” Acker said.

“Our games don’t get heavily scouted because our players are college-level and have been pre-identified for the most part. But the WCL All-Star Game is different. Every Major League Baseball team sends a scouting representative, they send their crosscheckers, because they recognize this is the largest collection of talent in one place on the West Coast.”

In 2017, the West Coast League moved to a two-day All-Star celebration, splitting off the home-run derby and concert from the game itself when the Yakima Valley Pippins played host last July.

“The first day we will have the home-run derby contest and the concert,” Acker said. “Some of the teams have been extremely successful with the concerts and some have not. But we feel that our connections with Next Door GastroPub [Gastropub owner Jacob Oppelt owns a stake in the Lefties] bringing in great music acts all the time, so I think we can put on a top-notch concert.”